Following the global spike in food prices in 2008, there has been a renewed interest in food security. A modest increase in prices over long-term trend in 2009, and some forecasts of higher commodity prices in the longer term, have reinforced concerns. In addition to the concerns with relatively...

Proposals for agricultural trade reform put forward by the main protagonists remain far apart, with little sign of convergence. In an attempt to progress the negotiations towards a successful outcome, the chairman of the WTO Committee on Agriculture has proposed a compromise. The alternative...

Bosnia Herzegovina (BH) is in the process of joining the World Trade Organization in the near future and the European Union in the medium term. As a net agriculture and food importer, accession will require BH to expose some of its inefficient and sensitive agricultural industries, such as meat...

Vietnam has negotiated a series of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and has madesignificant steps in integrating into the world economy. This integration is likely to have bothpositive and negative effects on different stakeholders in the economy. This paper seeks tomeasure the...

Aiming to support downstream processing, the Indonesian government announced an export tax in May 2010. Using a partial equilibrium approach, this paper therefore attempts to analyse: (i) whether the Indonesian government has imposed optimal taxes on cocoa beans; (ii) the impacts of cocoa export...

The global financial crisis in 2008-2009 has affected almost all countries.Vietnam was hit by a large fall in export demand and foreign direct investment.Many governments quickly prescribed stimulus packages and Vietnam was noexception. It reduced taxes and increased government spending, mainly...

Trade negotiators are concerned about the possible negative effects of trade liberalisation on employment in specific sectors. The agricultural sector has characteristics that make it different from industrial or service sectors. These are an informal labour force, low productivity, relative...

Following the global spike in food prices in 2008, there is renewed interest in Indonesia in self-sufficiency as a means of achieving food security. Restrictive trade policies, including specific tariffs on rice and sugar, and quantitative restrictions on imports and exports, have been used in...